Jewish Schools Close, Community on Alert After Second Radical Islamist Attack Rocks France
Fear coursed through the Jewish community of Nice France, this week after a terror attack killed three people in a church.
All 15 synagogues and three schools were closed Friday, and stores selling kosher foods were warned to be on guard.
“We have decided to close all the schools tomorrow,” the chief rabbi of Nice, Franck-Daniel Teboul, said Thursday, according to the Times of Israel. “The synagogues will also be closed. Kosher shops are on alert.”
“We’re all feeling threatened,” he said.
Some fear that lone wolf attackers are ready to strike anywhere.
“We know this can happen to anyone suddenly, it’s not like before, with terrorist organizations, now it’s individuals at home, watching videos and then they go out to carry out an attack like what happens in Israel,” said Avraham Va’anounou, a Chabad emissary in Nice.
This precious woman went to Mass yesterday in France and she was fatally stabbed by a terrorist. Her final words were: “tell my children that I love them”.
Her name was Simone Barretto Silva. Please pray for her family. pic.twitter.com/fqMrY989kr
— Obianuju Ekeocha (@obianuju) October 30, 2020
One woman was beheaded and two other people were stabbed to death Thursday at Nice’s Notre Dame church. Accused attacker Ibrahim Issaoui, 21, allegedly shouted “Allah Akbar,” during the attack, the Times of Israel reported.
Issaoui, a Tunisian citizen, was shot by police and wounded on Thursday, according to CBS.
Since then, police have arrested two men in connection with the attack.
Gil Taieb, vice president of an umbrella group of French Jewish communities, tweeted that “The Islamists are waging war on us! All united against Islamism.”
French President Emmanuel Macron had offered sentiments after the Nice stabbings.
“I say this with the outmost clarity — we will not give in to terrorism,” he said according to CNN. “Once again this morning, it was three of our compatriots that fell in Nice, and very clearly France is under attack.”
Earlier this month, an attacker beheaded a French teacher for showing his class caricatures of Mohammed. The French government has responded by increasing security.
President Donald Trump sent France a message of support.
Our hearts are with the people of France. America stands with our oldest Ally in this fight. These Radical Islamic terrorist attacks must stop immediately. No country, France or otherwise can long put up with it!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2020
The attacks became part of the wider debate of the growing presence of Muslims in Western Europe.
A bunch of sad losers.
Let me get this right… terrorists kill innocent French citizens, then these idiots criticise France instead of condemning the attacks. THEN they demand “respect”?
Also, how can Sadiq Khan allow this mass gathering to happen when London is in Tier 2?! https://t.co/PdHJqauYst
— Mahyar Tousi (@MahyarTousi) October 30, 2020
Some French officials believe that more attacks are likely.
“We are in a war against an enemy that is both inside and outside,” French interior minister Gerald Darmanin said, according to Newsweek.
“We need to understand that there have been and there will be other events such as these terrible attacks,” he said.
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